Kiss The Girl
by QueenoftheWilderwest
Summary: It's New Year's Eve, and Hiccup has three resolutions: 1) to spend more time with his cat, 2) to remember to log out of his Facebook, and 3) Kiss Astrid Hofferson.


It was Stoick's idea to throw a party for New Year's: Hiccup, personally, would have been quite happy bringing in 2017 by curling up on the living room floor by the fire with his cat, reading a book.

His father wasn't having any of it - "You're eighteen now, Hiccup," his father had said, "you need to start the new year out _right_ ," while Hiccup had scuffed his shoe against the coffee table. Before he could even protest, his father had sent him out to buy supplies, refusing to let him back in the house until he'd bought a sufficient amount of snacks and booze.

Eventually, Hiccup figured there was nothing he could do but go along with his father's insane plan, and that was how he'd found himself leaning against his living room wall, Stoick nowhere to be found while he watched hundreds of people trash his house. He kept his back against the wall, mentally planning all the available escape routes.

"Well, don't you look like you're enjoying yourself?"

Hiccup turned, and watched Cami Hofferson slink next to him, two plastic cups in her hand, filled to the brim with something alcoholic.

"Oh, thank God," Hiccup muttered, taking one of the cups from her and tipping half of it down his throat.

Cami cocked an eyebrow. "Never pegged you for a drinker."

"It's the only way I can get through these kinds of events," Hiccup muttered, taking another swig of his drink.

"Why did you set this up if you hate parties?"

The tips of Hiccup's ears tinged red. "I didn't," he admitted. "Dad did it."

Stoick, who had been marvelling his newfound ability to use Facebook, snuck onto Hiccup's account and managed to set up an event, inviting fifty people or so. Later, when triple the amount of people showed up to the public event that had been shared over and over, Hiccup would curse himself for never logging out.

Cami's eyebrows shot into the air after he'd told her the story, and she failed to hide a grin behind her hand. "That's unbelievably lame, Hiccup."

"Yeah, well," Hiccup said, kicking his prosthetic leg against the table leg. "I am pretty lame, you know."

Her face turned a little pale, and she faltered uncharacteristically before she spoke again. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I should have thought."

He had to hold back a laugh when he saw her sheepish expression, and he smiled good-naturedly and nudged her with his elbow. "Only teasing."

Someone had figured out how to plug their phones into Stoick's stereo, and the room was suddenly thumping with music, the crowd of people cheering, already starting to dance with each other. A few more people rushed into the room to join the ruckus, and Hiccup's mouth went dry as he saw who'd come in last, joining the dance party in the centre of the room.

Astrid Hofferson took no time joining in with all the dancing, and she moved so gracefully, like it all came naturally to her. Hiccup could feel his heart beating faster when he noticed that her hair was down, free from its usual braid to flutter down her shoulders. He covered his face with a cup in an attempt to hide his no doubt dopey expression, but it was too late – Cami had followed his gaze, her eyes twinkling.

"Why don't you ask her to dance?" she said, nudging him forward.

"I can't dance."

Cami grinned. "Two left feet?"

A twitch of a smile peeked from the corners of Hiccup's lips. "No left foot."

"You're on fire with the leg jokes today."

"Always am."

There was a pause while Hiccup got lost in his staring again, before Cami pulled him back into present. "I call bullshit," she said. "You can totally dance. You and Astrid have been dancing around each other for months. When are you going to ask her out?"

Something in Hiccup's heart fluttered, but he tried to keep his cool, shrugging his shoulders in fake nonchalance. "I'm waiting for the opportune moment," he said. "It's called playing the long game."

"Well, that sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"Rude," Hiccup muttered.

"Everyone knows what's going on between you two, your flirting has been getting sickening," Cami said, examining her fingernails. "There's a betting pool going on. Even some of the teachers have joined in—" a glint flashed across her eyes -"even your father's joined in."

"You're not serious."

"Hiccup, new New Year's resolution," she said, grabbing him by the arms and turning him to face her. "Kiss. The. Girl."

Hiccup was about to say something snarky in response, but Cami's focus had almost immediately strayed, her eyes tracking across the room as someone else walked in – someone with dark hair and green eyes.

Hiccup grinned, and shifted close to Cami's ear. "You gonna take your own advice?"

"Starting to think about it," Cami said, not looking away from the girl who'd just walked through the door.

The girl - Heather, new to their class this year and very quickly the object of Cami's affections - seemed not to notice them, despite Cami's eyes trailing her as she crossed the room, and instead she headed over towards Astrid. Cami and Hiccup watched, not speaking, as the two chatted for a little bit, and then giggled. Hiccup could have sworn that, just for a moment, he saw the two of them flash their eyes in their direction, devious smiles on their faces as they clasped each other's hands, laughing and spinning each other around, a little too close to each other to be purely platonic.

"Oh, I'm not having this," Cami said, crushing her cup with her hand and letting it drop to the floor. Her cheeks had gone slightly pink.

Hiccup hid a grin behind his hand. "Do you think they're doing this on purpose?" Hiccup said.

There was a shine to Cami's eyes as she looked up at him. "Well?" she said. "Are you gonna go get the girl?"

"Are you?"

Cami grinned, saluting Hiccup with a single tap of two fingers to her forehead, before offering him a wink and heading off towards Heather.

Hiccup waited a few seconds, downing the last of his drink for Dutch courage, before joining Astrid.

She smiled when he saw him coming over and it lit up her face, her eyes seemed to twinkle under the dim lights. "Hiccup!" she said, breathlessly. "I thought you'd never join the party."

"Cami was getting a little green-eyed," Hiccup said, with a grin. "Just wanted to make sure she didn't do anything stupid."

"Was that the only reason?"

"Well," Hiccup said, allowing himself to shrug lazily with all the fake confidence he could muster as he offered his hand out to her, "I couldn't leave you without a dance partner, now, could I?"

Astrid took his hand, her fingers lacing through his, her eyes twinkling. "I thought you'd never ask."

Hiccup fought off the urge to gulp, as the realisation coursed through him, not for the first time, that he really wanted to lean forward and kiss her. Cami was right – he and Astrid had been dancing around each other for months, and Hiccup's fake confidence could only get him so far. Flirting was one thing, winks and insinuations and tiny shared moments were something he could do, but kissing – now that was Undecided Territory™.

He and Astrid twirled around the room, both of them laughing at Hiccup's awful attempts at dancing, and all the while she was clinging onto his hand, and Hiccup's mouth kept going dry. She was smiling and laughing, and it was becoming abundantly clear that he couldn't keep up the bravado any longer – or at least, it became clear when his leg slipped against the rug and he fell on his ass.

Astrid covered her mouth with her hands, both in shock and as an attempt to stop herself from laughing, while Hiccup let his head flop against the floor in resignation. It seemed about right – it was the universe telling Hiccup that he couldn't be smooth, no matter what he tried.

"You okay?" Astrid said, offering her hand to help him up off the floor.

Hiccup took it, pulling himself up to stand by her, rubbing the back of his head, and staring at the floor, his cheeks turning pink. "I should've figured that's what would happen to me if I tried to be smooth."

Astrid giggled, her fingers still curled around his. "You tried, Hiccup. I can't ask for anything else."

Hiccup smiled, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Cami and Heather. Cami's hand was tangled with Heather's, the two of them grinning madly, both of them watching Astrid and Hiccup intently. When Hiccup caught Cami's eye, she nodded pointedly at Astrid. Hiccup turned back to look at the girl in front of him, his heart thumping wildly and his throat dry as he swallowed and began, "Astrid, I-"

"It's time!" someone shrieked, switching the TV on, where the countdown was just about to begin.

Hiccup was torn from his thoughts as he blinked and remembered his surroundings. God, was it a minute to midnight already? How had the night gone so fast?

Before long, everyone around them was screaming.

"Ten!" they shrieked.

Next to him, Astrid was still clinging onto his hand, and Hiccup's thoughts raced wildly as he thought about what he was about to do.

"Nine!"

"Eight"

Good, god, he was wigging out.

"Seven!"

Hiccup decided he wasn't going to do it. They'd been flirting for months, and Hiccup was still riding on that high. What if this screwed everything up?

"Six!"

Nope. He wasn't going to do it. He didn't have the guts for it.

"Five!"

"Four!"

Astrid's hand was awfully warm in his. His eyes flickered over to her, and her cheeks were flushed red, hair down past her shoulders, and she was staring right back at him, mouth parted slightly.

God, he wanted to kiss her.

"Three!"

"Two!"

Fuck it.

"One!"

The room reached a cacophony of noise as everyone cheered and clapped, and in the commotion, Hiccup took a breath, tucked his hand under her chin, brushing the hair away from her face in one fell swoop before he caught her lips with his. She was soft underneath him, and smiling, and when his arm tilted around her waist and brought her closer, she let out a burst of giggles, and before he knew it, he was laughing too, their foreheads bumping.

He was dimly aware of Cami clapping her hands raucously to left of him, getting up onto a table, and shrieking, "I win the bet, folks!" and was all at once acutely aware that his friend had planned all of this – but in that moment, he didn't care. All he could think about was the fact that he was holding Astrid Hofferson in his arms, that she was adorable when she laughed, and _oh God_ , why hadn't he done this sooner?

Astrid grinned as she pulled him towards him once more, the two kissing until they had to come up for air, their foreheads pressed together.

"Be my girlfriend?" Hiccup said, breathlessly.

Astrid grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, Hiccup," she said. "I thought you'd never ask."


End file.
